


After Thunder and Lightning

by SubwayBossEmmett



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23523169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubwayBossEmmett/pseuds/SubwayBossEmmett
Summary: After a long and arduous journey Olwen is forced to finally slow down and dwell on all that has happened ever since she joined Leif's army, and has tried isolating herself to process everything going on in her mind. Fred, a loyal knight that has been with Olwen from the beginning, hopes he can find Olwen and pull her out of the darkness that she is finding herself in.[Spoilers for Thracia 776]
Relationships: Fred/Olwen (Fire Emblem)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	After Thunder and Lightning

It is the year 777 in Judgral. Manster and all of Northern Thracia has finally been liberated from both Raydrik and the Loptyrian church by the efforts of Leif and his army. Much like the rest of Leif’s long journey, there was almost no time for rest after this victory. The Liberation Army had finally arrived immediately following Leif’s accomplishment. Seliph, the Scion of Light and son of Sigurd, was leading the charge and gathering endless encouragement from the entire continent of Judgral. The newly formed army had already driven out the Empire from both the Kingdom of Isaach and had managed to purge the Empire from the nearby areas of Thracia with swiftness and overwhelming strength. Assisting Seliph was Prince Isaach with the reclaimed Balmung Blade, and the demon blade Mystletainn wielded by heir to Agustria, Ares. With the support of two Holy Weapons already aiding their cause the Liberation Army was becoming a beacon of hope for all and began resembling the Crusaders from long ago. Seliph without haste asked Leif to join his cause moments after his victory and offered the same proposition to his entire army. 

This proposition is a hard question to take in for the army that has been through so much, and Leif encourages those who no longer wish to continue with another war after having to deal with the grueling battles, to return home. The Liberation’s army composition of countless crusader descendants along with Holy Weapons wielders creates an overwhelming expectation for those who are fighting in their army and unsurprisingly only a select few feel ready to join Leif’s new journey with his newly sworn brother Seliph. Everyone in Leif’s army had a lot to think about for their future and their homes. 

For one woman in particular, her inner conflict has brought forth great change within her. Now, for the first time in what feels like ages, she’ll be forced to really dwell on everything that has happened. 

For most of the day instead of celebrating their victory, planning new exploits or saying goodbye; Olwen has been nowhere to be seen in Castle Manster. One loyal knight, Fred, who defected to join Leif right alongside Olwen, has been doing his best to find her for nearly the entire today before discovering her. He found her isolated outside the castle on its roof outlooking the Thracian cliffs on a night illuminated by just the moon and stars. 

“Lady Olwen? I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Is everything alright?”

Olwen was silent, there was a longing and empty look within her eyes. She was sitting on the ledge slightly hunched over facing the castle, but still letting her feet dangle and clenching her arm tightly. Fred knew exactly why she had that look in her eye. He took a moment to observe her surroundings, and noticed two weapons within arms reach of her. The first weapon Fred saw was a familiar worn-out tome with its binding starting to loosen from extended use, her family’s iconic Dire Thunder and second was a beautiful yet surprisingly smooth and clean sword he was unfamiliar with. They were slightly removed from her, but she clearly was keeping an eye on the weapons.

There was a moment of delay before Olwen even reacted to Fred’s presence; she jumped a little once she processed that someone had found her and was standing in front of her no less.

“...Ah Fred! I didn’t notice you there.” 

Fred, who is just relieved to find his former superior, informs her, “Well, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright with you, I’ll take my leave if that is what you desire.”

Olwen, now beginning to snap out of her deep trance admitted, “Actually, Fred if you will… I think I want to talk to someone. I’ve had a lot on my mind, and I imagine you of all people will be able to understand it the best.”

“Is it about… Reinhardt?” Fred asked solmonly, as he hops onto a ledge next to Olwen.

Olwen winced upon hearing her brother’s name, and she looked down at her hands and quietly let out, “Well… yes it’s about my brother, but more so it’s just… just about everything that’s happened.” 

Fred braced himself, he knew the sadness he was about to hear but knew it would not compare to the actual string of hardships Olwen has gone through firsthand. All he could do for now was tell her, “I’m here for you, Lady Olwen.”

Olwen deeply inhaled and shuddered, as the memories once again flooded her mind.

_ "Olwen...It's good to see you again." _

It was starting again, she’s lost count how many times she’s revisited this scene in her mind.

_ "Don't worry, we can talk later. For now I'm just glad you're safe.” _

She was doing everything she could to hold back her tears.

_ "In that case...we'll be enemies. Are you willing to fight against me?" _

Despite her best efforts, she found her gloves were slowly getting wet as she looked down at her hands.

_ "Hm..I see you've made your resolve. _

She inhaled yet again, and looked at Fred, but failed to make eye contact.

_ ”You really have grown up.”  _

“Fred, do you know what the last thing that my brother gave me was?”

_ "This was meant to be...forgive me.”  _

“It was a weapon to kill him with.”

_ "So...this is...the end..."  _

Olwen could barely choke out, “...and ...I k-killed him with it”

“I… I e-ended the person who I looked up to the most in the world, ...or at one point at least, I did.”

Fred remembered the sword next to Olwen, he knew while that there wasn’t much fighting after Reinhardt was defeated, but for him to not notice it at any other encounters would explain why it’s still in near-mint-condition. 

Fred fearing to make eye contact with the grieving Olwen, looked back towards the mountainside and was about to ask, “Do you-”

Knowing exactly what her companion was going to ask Olwen interjected while still staring intensely at her hands, “No. I don’t regret what I did. I feel like a monster who betrayed my family, my country, and the position I’ve worked my entire life for, but I will never regret the actions that led me here...”

Olwen wiping her eyes looked up at Fred after a brief pause with a sniff and continued.

“Fred, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget those children. I don’t even remember any of their names, but I-I’ll never forget their faces. They had such gazes of disgust and fear directed at me when I joined them in that jail cell. I-it filled me with such dread. It was almost paralyzing, children should not fear for their lives like that…” 

Olwen began growing a faint smile when she recalled more about the children, “I also got something else from those kids… their glowing smiles. When we managed to free them, their faces were blindingly bright in the darkness of that dungeon, they had all been seared into my memory.”

The new smile had vanished just as quickly as it appeared as Olwen turned to Fred. She placed a hand upon Fred’s lap and looked up into his eyes. 

Fred could feel the torment resonating from her eyes as she looked into his, yet Fred knew all he could do right now was to just listen to her grief.

“At that moment, I was so lost and confused… but what I knew was which side I couldn’t support anymore.”

After a brief pause, Olwen deeply inhales and continues.

“Fred… I will  _ never  _ truly be able to show how deeply my gratitude for saving me from that dark place… You gave me the freedom to do the right thing …and to become my own p-person. I can never thank you enough for… just everything.”

These were the last words Olwen was able to choke out before tears started steaming down her face.

Fred grabbed Olwen’s resting hand and held it tightly, letting her know it’s ok. It was ok to let out all of these painful bottled up emotions from last year with a good cry.

After a few minutes had passed, Olwen was starting to calm down and began looking back at the ground in silence. Fred loosened his grip on Olwen’s hand, but still had no intention of letting go of it and with his other hand he wipes a tear off of her cheek and begins to confess, “Lady Olwen… I need to let you know that I need to thank you.”

Olwen’s head shoots up immediately in bewilderment and asks Fred, “What in the world have I done for you? Y-You’ve done everything for me!”

Fred chuckles and looks up into the night sky, reminiscing before informing her “Being under that deplorable and disgraceful Kempf was driving me to insanity. I had begun questioning all what I was fighting for, but I wouldn’t dare oppose the empire and turn everything I’ve worked towards in life. Even if it was stifling the moral code I believed in. It took Kempf’s depressingly petty spite of accusing you of treason to really open my eyes to where I was for the first time.”

Olwen chuckles with the largest smile she’s had all night, doing her best to mimic Kempf in a gloating tone of voice, “Sounds like you should be thanking his late excellency Officer Kempf for setting you free.”

Fred’s smile fades and he shudders at the idea of thanking that worthless excuse of a man for anything, “You could argue Kempf was responsible, but if his malicious inferiority complex wasn’t plastered onto you, I may not have actually become a turncoat. I could not stand someone so loyal and committed to such honorable ideals being demonized as you were.”

Olwen, still holding a bit of a grin, stated the obvious to Fred, “Well… you know I did commit treason after all didn’t I?”

Playing off Olwen’s ironic, albeit accurate point, Fred proudly counters, “Ah, lest you forget we have been nothing but the utmost trusting and loyal followers to our new lord which we chose to follow!”

Olwen pauses for a moment, and with a slight head told she asks, “Fred after you freed me, you quickly explained Lord Leif aligned more with our beliefs. How did you learn what his beliefs were first? If I remember, you two arrived at the fort’s interior from different entrances.” 

“I never did explain my first meeting with Lord Leif, did I?” Fred admitted, as a faint smile grew as he recollected his first meeting with the Heir to Leonster. “Well, it started immediately after you turned your sword on Kempf and were taken away. He then approached me essentially asking me to die for my house as the Leonster Army approached. When Kempf sprung a trap that locked multiple soldiers into the ballista range with me acting as bait, a mere teenager I saw called out the dishonorable actions transpiring. I found myself unable to disagree with his claim and we formed a truce, which he gladly agreed to. While I let him pass I asked for his name and he replied simply as ‘Leif of House Leonster’. I obviously felt a little foolish seeing not only was what we thought our enemy was only a child, but that I found him more understanding of what I believed rather than who was actually leading me prior. I bid him farewell and good luck before departing for something... mildly urget you could say.”

Olwen comically shook her head, “I can only wonder where you went after that.”

Fred, pretending to turn away wistfully, “Even I must keep my secrets, Lady Olwen.”

Chuckling once again, Olwen is amazed, “Didn’t know it was in you to make a joke like that, Fred.” Regaining a more serious demeanor, Olwen continued on about Fred’s brief story. “Although the way you described Lord Leif caught my attention as a teenager or a child, we must have seen him as we left Fort Noel where he used to be so… unassuming. Just look at him now, a leader with such a commanding presence. He’s truly grown since we’ve known him.”

Fred nodded his head in agreement with Olwen, as she spoke about Leif. Fred however felt the need to add, “Lady Olwen, you forgot one part about Lord Leif, he was always so convicted to his ideals despite his age.”

“...I don’t think I will ever be able to articulate my gratitude to Lord Leif for what he did at the Norden Line.” Fred struggles to let out.

Olwen winced upon rehearing of the Norden Line, she had done her best to not acknowledge what happened, “You… you of course mean defeating Kempf right?”

Fred just silently shook his head, “No, I’m grateful at how much he valued life, especially yours.”

Olwen tenses up, as she doesn't realize Fred overheard her suggestion to Leif for how to break the stronghold that had formed, led by Kempf. 

Tightening his grip on her hand once more, Fred began to express how horrible he felt that day. “I was beyond terrified when you spoke about sacrificing yourself. You wanted to give your life to a cause you believed in, it was something so honorable. I can scarcely imagine a world without you, but I wouldn’t dare be selfish enough to steal away your actions. That’s how much I value and respect your judgement. 

Only silence escaped from Olwen. She opened her mouth but closed it shortly after she realized she had no words to say in the moment. 

Fred continues, “It is also why I am so overjoyed you supported Lord Leif despite him being the supposed enemy to her house and pushed past it because of your personal values. I was worried you felt weak from feeling regret about facing your brother. In reality, staying true against someone so dear makes you the strongest person I know… Just know Lady Olwen, I’ll follow you to the end of the world because I believe in you.”

With that last line Fred let go of Olwen’s hand, and stood up to leave, He turned back for one last word to Olwen, “Thank you for letting me get that off my chest, Lady Olwen. If you ever need me to lend an ear, I’ll be there. I will be taking my leave for the night, hopefully you’ll come to a decision for the next step of your journey.”

Just as Fred turned to leave, Olwen jolted up to catch up to him.

Fred froze when he heard a metallic clang and a sharp thud hit the ground, and before he could turn around Fred felt something grabbing his hand.

Olwen looked right into Fred's eyes and told him, “Let’s return to Friege… together.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hey finally got this out! I had a few road bumps (ie broken laptop charger and no alone time) when it came to making this, but I think I have found my love for writing again so while another Thracia fic probably won't be any time soon I do plan on actually publishing stories from now on!
> 
> If you liked it let me know! I hope I captured Olwen well enough and know that with Thracia being the least popular FE game, this wonderful game needed more stories. I hope I did it justice. 
> 
> (Also since my last fic, I have become a lot more... elitist apparently despite being basically an awakening/fates baby when I started. I still hold a love for all FE though and I bet that's not going to change for a long time.)


End file.
